Ontario Highway 2 Photographs - Page 8 - History of Ontario's Kings Highways

Left - Hwy 2 & Hwy 21 Junction in Downtown Thamesville, facing east. For a number of years in the 1960s, Hwy 78 was signed concurrently with Hwy 21 between Thamesville and Dresden. The overlapped route of Hwy 21 & Hwy 78 was discontinued in 1969. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing west along London Road (Hwy 2) towards Chatham from Victoria Street (Hwy 21) in Downtown Thamesville. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Junction of Hwy 2 & Hwy 21 in Downtown Thamesville, facing south. This once-important highway junction clearly shows the effects of the construction of improved parallel highways. Most of the long distance through traffic in this part of Ontario is now carried by Hwy 40, Hwy 401 and Hwy 402. This intersection was once the eastern terminus of Hwy 78, which was signed concurrently with Hwy 21 from Thamesville to Dresden for a number of years during the 1960s. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing north along Victoria Street (Hwy 21) towards Dresden from London Road (Hwy 2) in Downtown Thamesville. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Approaching Victoria Street (Hwy 21) on London Road (Hwy 2) in Downtown Thamesville, facing west. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing east along London Road (Hwy 2) from Victoria Street (Hwy 21) in Downtown Thamesville. Once considered the "Main Street" of Ontario, the importance of Hwy 2 was greatly diminished in Southwestern Ontario by the completion of nearby Hwy 401 in 1963. Traffic volumes on Hwy 2 fell by more than 50 percent immediately after Hwy 401 was opened to traffic. In fact, many sections of Hwy 2 in Southwestern Ontario carried far more traffic in the 1950s and early 1960s than they do today. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing south along Victoria Street (Hwy 21) from the Hwy 2 Junction in Thamesville. As is the case on northbound Hwy 21 departing Ridgetown, Hwy 401 is marked with green and white trailblazer markers along southbound Hwy 21 departing Thamesville. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Abandoned curve on a former Hwy 2 alignment near Thamesville. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Old culvert under an abandoned Hwy 2 curve near Thamesville. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - This curve near Thamesville has actually been realigned twice. Traces of an even older former Hwy 2 alignment can be seen here, lying to the right of the tree. The more recent abandoned alignment passes to the left of the tree. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Date stamp (1922) on an old culvert on the abandoned curve near Thamesville. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Approaching the Hwy 79 Junction on Hwy 2 near Bothwell, facing east towards London. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Sign marking the junction of Hwy 2 & (Former) Hwy 79 near Bothwell. The entire route of Hwy 79 from Bothwell to Hwy 7 was transferred in 1997 to the Counties of Lambton and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. For some reason, Chatham-Kent elected to number their downloaded portion of Hwy 79 as Chatham-Kent Road 16. Based on the numerous overlay patches on this sign, Chatham-Kent's route number choice has obviously confused a lot of motorists who are looking for Hwy 79. Neighbouring Lambton County wisely decided to keep the route of former King's Highway 79 numbered as County Road 79. Note that Lambton County Road 79 is essentially trailblazed along Chatham-Kent Road 16. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Junction of Hwy 2 & Hwy 79 near Bothwell, facing northeast. Although the alignment of Hwy 79 has been "squared up" approaching the Hwy 2 Junction, it is quite likely that this intersection was historically a "Y" junction. Although quite common on Ontario's early highways, the design of "Y" junctions is avoided by highway designers today. This intersection layout creates a situation where drivers have to look far beyond their normal range of neck movement to see approaching traffic. Not surprisingly, "Y" junctions typically have a poor safety record. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing north along Hwy 79 towards Watford from the Hwy 2 Junction near Bothwell. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing south along Hwy 79 approaching the Hwy 2 Junction near Bothwell. Up until 1997, this intersection marked the southern terminus of Hwy 79. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Hwy 2 Junction assembly on southbound Hwy 79 approaching the southern terminus of the highway near Bothwell. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Old fingerboard guide signs at the southern terminus of Hwy 79 at Hwy 2. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Facing west along Hwy 2 towards Chatham at the Hwy 79 Junction near Bothwell. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing east along Hwy 2 towards London from the Hwy 79 Junction. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Distance guide sign on eastbound Hwy 2 near the Hwy 79 Junction. Prior to the completion of Hwy 401 through Southwestern Ontario in the 1960s, the majority of motorists heading eastbound across Ontario from the Windsor area would have passed by signs just like this one on Hwy 2, slowly counting down the miles to London and other major Ontario destinations. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - An overgrown former alignment on Hwy 2, just east of the Hwy 79 Junction near Bothwell. This was one of several sections of Hwy 2 abandoned in the Bothwell area in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when new alignments were built in an effort to improve the highway's geometry. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - This former alignment of Hwy 2 about 2 km west of Wardsville passes right below the current alignment. The highway's vertical alignment was changed rather dramatically in some places. This resulted in the final grade of the new highway being raised several metres above the original road, as was the case here. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Approaching the Hwy 2 Junction at the northern terminus of Hwy 76.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Northern terminus of Hwy 76 at the Hwy 2 Junction at Woodgreen. These two highways meet about half-way between Chatham and London.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing south along Hwy 76 towards West Lorne from the Hwy 2 Junction at Woodgreen.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Approaching the Hwy 76 Junction on Eastbound Hwy 2 at Woodgreen, facing east towards London.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing east towards the Hwy 76 Junction on Hwy 2 at Woodgreen.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Approaching the Hwy 76 Junction on Westbound Hwy 2 at Woodgreen, facing west towards Chatham.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - Facing east along Hwy 2 towards London from the Hwy 76 Junction at Woodgreen.
(Photograph taken on September 10, 2010 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - Old alignment of Hwy 2 at the Strathburn Roadside Park, about 3 km east of the Hwy 80 Junction. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - The entrance to the Strathburn Roadside Park is actually an old alignment of Hwy 2. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Left - There is a well-preserved superelevated curve on the old Hwy 2 alignment in the Strathburn Roadside Park. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Right - The old Hwy 2 alignment at the Strathburn Roadside Park is the best surviving example of a 1920s Ontario twin-slab concrete highway. The concrete was laid on this section of Hwy 2 during a highway improvement contract which took place in 1926. It is very rare to see a concrete highway of this vintage without an asphalt or bituminous overlay. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)

Above - The original alignment of Hwy 2 at the Strathburn Roadside Park was bypassed in 1950 by a new alignment, which can be seen at right. What makes this section of the old highway particularly interesting is that the original concrete highway surface was never overlaid with any bituminous material. It was common practice in Ontario during the 1940s and early 1950s to overlay a thin bituminous layer on old concrete highways when it became necessary to improve the ride quality and restore pavement friction. See an Enlarged Photo Here.
(Photograph taken on September 12, 2004 - © Cameron Bevers)